The Wizard of Zao

The Wizard of Zao
cover of The Wizard of Zao
Author	Lin Carter
Cover artist	Carl Lundgren
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Chronicles of Kylix
Genre	Sword and sorcery Fantasy
Publisher	DAW Books
Publication date	1978
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	176 pp
ISBN	0-87997-383-8
Preceded by	The Quest of Kadji
Followed by	Kellory the Warlock

The Wizard of Zao is a fantasy novel written by Lin Carter, the second book of the Chronicles of Kylix series. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1978.^[1]

Plot

Each volume of the Chronicles of Kylix is set on a different world in the magical solar system of the fictional star Kylix in the constellation of the Unicorn. The system consists of the five planets Zao, Olymbris, Thoorana, Zephrondus and Gulzund. The Wizard of Zao takes place on Zao.

The titular wonder-working wizard, fat, green and full of himself, makes an unlikely hero, but nonetheless has a humorous romp of a quest he must undertake. He is accompanied on his journey by the 15-year-old Wild Girl Ooo, his newly purchased chela, who assists him as servant, apprentice and concubine. Strange beasts and stranger people are encountered along the way. The true identity of the wizard, a mystery in itself, is revealed in a surprise ending. The narrative is spiced with authorial asides and footnotes.

Notes

↑ The Wizard of Zao title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

References

Fantastic Fiction entry for The Wizard of Zao

Works by Lin Carter

Callisto series

Novels	Jandar of Callisto (1972) Black Legion of Callisto (1972) Sky Pirates of Callisto (1973) Mad Empress of Callisto (1975) Mind Wizards of Callisto (1975) Lankar of Callisto (1975) Ylana of Callisto (1977) Renegade of Callisto (1978)

Collections	Callisto Volume 1 (2000)

The Green Star Saga

Novels	Under the Green Star (1972) When the Green Star Calls (1973) By the Light of the Green Star (1974) As the Green Star Rises (1975) In the Green Star's Glow (1976)

The Mysteries of Mars

Novels	The Flame of Iridar (1967) The Man Who Loved Mars (1973) The Valley Where Time Stood Still (1974) The City Outside the World (1977) Down to a Sunless Sea (1984)

Short works	"The Martian El Dorado of Parker Wintley" (1976)

Zanthodon series

Novels	Journey to the Underground World (1979) Zanthodon (1980) Hurok of the Stone Age (1981) Darya of the Bronze Age (1981) Eric of Zanthodon (1982)

Zarkon series

Novels	The Nemesis of Evil (1975) Invisible Death (1975) The Volcano Ogre (1976) The Earth-Shaker (1982) Horror Wears Blue (1987)

Minor SF series

Great Imperium	The Man Without a Planet (1966) Star Rogue (1970) Outworlder (1971)

Hautley Quicksilver	The Thief of Thoth (1968) The Purloined Planet (1969)

Thongor series

Novels	Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria (1965/69) Thongor and the Dragon City (1966/70) Thongor Against the Gods (1967) Thongor in the City of Magicians (1968) Thongor at the End of Time (1968) Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus (1970)

Short works	"Thieves of Zangabal" (1969) "Keeper of the Emerald Flame" (1970) "Black Hawk of Valkarth" (1974) "Diombar's Song of the Last Battle" (1975) "The City in the Jewel" (1975) "Black Moonlight" (1976) "Demon of the Snows" (1980) "The Creature in the Crypt" (2012)

Collections	Young Thongor (2012)

Conan series (with L. Sprague de Camp and others)

Novels	Conan of the Isles (1968) Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Buccaneer (1971) Conan the Liberator (1979)

Short works	"Black Sphinx of Nebthu" (1973) "Black Tears" (1968) "The Castle of Terror" (1969) "The City of Skulls" (1967) "The Curse of the Monolith" (1968) "Death-Song of Conan the Cimmerian" (1972) "The Gem in the Tower" (1978) "The Hand of Nergal" (1967) "The Ivory Goddess" (1978) "The Lair of the Ice Worm" (1969) "Legions of the Dead" (1978) "Moon of Blood" (1978) "Red Moon of Zembabwei" (1974) "Shadows in the Dark" (1978) "Shadows in the Skull" (1975) "The Snout in the Dark" (1969) "The Thing in the Crypt" (1967) "The Witch of the Mists" (1972)

Collections	Conan (1967) The Conan Chronicles (1989) The Conan Chronicles 2 (1990) Conan of Aquilonia (1977) Conan of Cimmeria (1969) Conan the Swordsman (1978) Conan the Wanderer (1968) Sagas of Conan (2004)

Kull series (with Robert E. Howard)

Short works	"Exile of Atlantis" (1967) "Black Abyss" (1967) "Riders Beyond the Sunrise" (1967) "Wizard and Warrior" (1967)

Collections	King Kull (1967)

The Gondwane Epic

Novels	The Warrior of World's End (1974) The Enchantress of World's End (1975) The Immortal of World's End (1976) The Barbarian of World's End (1977) The Pirate of World's End (1978) Giant of World's End (1969)

Terra Magica

Novels	Kesrick (1982) Dragonrouge (1984) Mandricardo (1987) Callipygia (1988)

The Chronicles of Kylix

Novels	The Quest of Kadji (1971) The Wizard of Zao (1978)

Short works	"Vault of Silence" (1970) "The Higher Heresies of Oolimar" (1973) "The Curious Custom of the Turjan Seraad" (1976)

Collections	Kellory the Warlock (1984)

Tara of the Twilight

Novels	Tara of the Twilight (1979)

Short works	"For the Blood is the Life" (1984) "The Love of the Sea" (1984) "Pale Shadow" (1985)

Simrana the Dream World

Short works	"The Gods of Niom Parma" (1966/70) "The Whelming of Oom" (1969) "Zingazar" (1971) "How Sargoth Lay Siege to Zaremm" (1972) "The Laughter of Han" (1982) "The Benevolence of Yib" (1987) "The Thievery of Yish" (1988)

Xothic Legend Cycle

Short works	"The Red Offering" (1997) "The Dweller in the Tomb" (1971) "The Thing in the Pit" (1980) "Out of the Ages" (1975) "The Horror in the Gallery" (1976/97) "The Winfield Heritance" (1981) "Perchance to Dream" (1988) "Strange Manuscript Found in the Vermont Woods" (1988) "Something in the Moonlight" (1980) "The Fishers from Outside" (1988) "Behind the Mask" (1987) "The Strange Doom of Enos Harker" (1989/2001) "The Bell in the Tower" (1989)

Collections	The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter (1997)

Short works	"The Tired Tailor of Oz" (2001) "The Awful Ogre of Ogodown" (2004) "High TImes on Tip Top Mountain" (2004) "The Wooden Soldier of Oz" (2004) "No Joy in Mudville" (2004)

Collections	The Merry Mountaineer of Oz (2004)

Other speculative fiction

Novels	The Star Magicians (1966) Destination: Saturn (1967) Tower at the Edge of Time (1968) Lost World of Time (1969) Tower of the Medusa (1969) The Black Star (1973) Time War (1974) Found Wanting (1985) The Black Pharaoh (2007)

Short works	"The Castle beyond the World" (1950) "Masters of the Metropolis" (1956) with Randall Garrett "The Slitherer from the Slime" (1958) "Uncollected Works" (1965) "Crown of Stars" (1966) "Owlstone" (1969) "Keru" (1969) "Harvey Hodges, Veebelfetzer" (1969) "Under the Eaves" (1969) "A Guide to the City" (1969) "Azlon" (1969) "The Mantichore" (1969) "The Seal of Zaon Sathla" (1970) "Shaggai" (1971) "The Sword of Power" (1971) "The Double Tower" (1973) "The Utmost Abomination" (1973) "The Scroll of Morloc" (1975) "In the Vale of Pnath" (1975) "The Tower of Time" (1975) "The Twelve Wizards of Ong" (1976) "People of the Dragon" (1976) "The Stairs in the Crypt" (1976) "The Pillars of Hell" (1977) "A Farmer on the Clyde" (1978) "Rhian and Garanhir" (1979) "Zurvan's Saint" (1980) "The World Beneath the World" (1980) "Dreams in the House of Weir" (1980) "The Descent Into the Abyss" (1980) "The Light From the Pole" (1980) "The Offering" (1982) "The Vengeance of Yig" (1983) "History & Chronology of the Book of Eibon" (1984) "The Necronomicon: Concerning Them from Outside" (1984) "Confessions of the Mad Monk Clithanus: The Incantation of the Elder Sign" (1984) "The Feaster from the Stars" (1984) "The Goblinry of Ais" (1985) "Geydelle's Protective" (1985) "The Acolyte of the Flame" (1985) "The Stone from Mnar" (1985) "Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom" (1988) "From the Archives of the Moon" (1988) "How Ghuth Would Have Hunted the Silth" (1988) "The Secret in the Parchment" (1988) "How Her Doom Came Down at Last on Adrazoon" (1988) "Black Stars in the Skulls of Doom" (1988) "Dead of Night" (1988) "Carcosa Story about Hali" (1989) "Terror Wears Yellow" (1989) "A Bottle of Djinn" (1989) "Sweet Tooth" (1989) "The Necronomicon, Book II: The Book of Preparations" (1990) "The Necronomicon, Book III: The Book of the Gates" (1990) "The Necronomicon, Book IV: The Book of Dismissals" (1990) "King in Yellow: A Tragedy in Verse" (1993) "Cthulhu & Co." (1997) "The Light in the East" (1997) "Curse of the Black Pharaoh" (1997) "Khymyrium (excerpt)" (1997/98) "The Demon Star" (1998) "The Life of Eibon According to Cyron of Varaad" (2002)

Collections	Beyond the Gates of Dream (1969) Dreams from R'lyeh (1975) Lost Worlds (1980) The Necronomicon: The Dee Translation (1971/89) Papyrus of the Dark Wisdom (1984/2002)

Anthologies edited

Flashing Swords!	Flashing Swords! #1 (1973) Flashing Swords! #2 (1973) Flashing Swords! #3: Warriors and Wizards (1976) Flashing Swords! #4: Barbarians and Black Magicians (1977) Flashing Swords! #5: Demons and Daggers (1981)

The Year's Best Fantasy Stories	The Year's Best Fantasy Stories (1975) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 2 (1976) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 3 (1977) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 4 (1978) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 5 (1980) The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 6 (1980)

Weird Tales	Weird Tales #1 (1980) Weird Tales #2 (1980) Weird Tales #3 (1981) Weird Tales #4 (1983)

Other anthologies	Dragons, Elves, and Heroes (1969) The Young Magicians (1969) Golden Cities, Far (1970) The Magic of Atlantis (1970) New Worlds for Old (1971) The Spawn of Cthulhu (1971) Double Phoenix (1971) Discoveries in Fantasy (1972) Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy (1972) Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy Volume II (1973) Kingdoms of Sorcery (1976) Realms of Wizardry (1976)

Nonfiction

Book-length	Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings" (1969) Lovecraft: A Look Behind the "Cthulhu Mythos" (1972) Imaginary Worlds (191973)

Poetry

Sandalwood and Jade (1951) Galleon of Dream (1955) A Letter to Judith (1950) Dreams from R'lyeh (1975) The Intelligent Child's Own Book of Interesting and Instructive (1987/88) Limericks from Yuggoth (1983/88)